5 Superpowers of Entrepreneurs

Leigh Buchanan is an editor-at-large for Inc. magazine. A former editor at Harvard Business Review and founding editor of Webmaster Magazine, she writes regular columns on leadership and workplace culture.

I’ve seen many explanations of what distinguishes entrepreneurs from their more earthbound counterparts. This video from Harrison Metal founder, Michael Dearing, may be the most elegant.

Dearing uses the theory of cognitive distortion propounded by the University of Pennsylvania's Aaron Beck to identify five kinds of "automatic thinking" that color the way founders observe, judge and act. Dearing, who in his roles as early-stage investor and Stanford professor has met thousands of entrepreneurs, says the successful ones exhibit personal exceptionalism, black-and white thinking, acceptance of disruption in the interests of building something better, the ability to correctly project a line from a single point, and the tendency to view the world as a blank canvas for their original art.

Each distortion, says Dearing, conveys a "superpower." They are...

Confidence and charisma

The ability to inspire brilliance and excellence

Fearlessness in the face of change

The ability to make generalizations that turn out to be true

Fresh, innovative thinking

But each distortion also comes with a deadly risk, a kind of entrepreneurial Kryptonite. Those risks can be mitigated through organizational design, management practices, or just by asking the right questions, says Dearing.

Dearing says founders view the world through special goggles that make them, "well, more like founders." Make sure your own founder-shaped goggles are strapped on tight and take a look.